But Cutspec realized that marketing pet food and then running her own marketing and design company wasn’t going to give her the voice or the fulfillment she wanted in her life. You don’t get back to the other side of the fence plugging pet food or designing websites.

Which is where the Voice comes in. The Voice — her Voice — could get Cutspec back to the field. She’d literally talk her way back to the Santiago Canyon College softball field, back to the other side of the fence.

“I literally got to the point where I realized I needed softball back in my life,” she said. “I realized I do love it more than anything else and kept asking myself, ‘How do I get it back?’ Well, they needed an announcer, so I went back as an announcer. It’s me. Done. I would have gone back as a volunteer coach. I didn’t care how I got back to the field. I needed to be back on the field.”

And that’s how SCC found its next softball coach. Only the second one in school history.

One year after announcing lineups, Cutspec is making out lineups. One year after announcing who’s coming to bat, Cutspec is figuratively — if not literally —back in the batter’s box. She’s back on the field, back on the other side of the fence.

The first-year SCC coach has a big act to follow. She took over from her mentor, former coach and former boss, Lisa Camarco, who built the SCC program from scratch when it began in 2007. Camarco retired as coach after leading SCC to state championship appearances in 2014 and 2016. The 2016 team won SCC’s first state title, becoming the first team since 1996 to lose the first game in the double-elimination tournament and come back to win the title. That team also became the first team since 2005 to mercy-rule its final opponent, when it dismissed Sacramento City College, 8-0, after five innings.

During her initial four-season stint as an assistant coach (2014-17), Cutspec was a part of both teams. In fact, all four of those teams would reach the state Super Regionals and the 2016 team would earn National Fastpitch Coaches Association California Junior College National Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

Before then, Cutspec was an all-conference first baseman for the Hawks, who helped SCC make its first regional appearance in 2011. And before that, she was an all-league first baseman for Ocean View High, who powered the Seahawks to the 2008 CIF Division 4 championship via a fifth-inning grand slam off Bishop Amat’s Amy Lwin — one of the best pitchers in the division.

So yes, the bona-fides now established, Cutspec looks around her new digs and still finds reasons to pinch herself. Her voice now carries louder than the PA system that reopened the door to the other side of the fence.

“Honestly, of all the jobs I had, that was the hardest. I couldn’t be on the other side of the lines. It was tough for me,” she said. “I’ve been the athlete. I’ve been the coach. But when you don’t know what’s going on, and when you’re not on that side of the field, it’s hard. But had I not taken that job and done that, I don’t think I would be in the position I’m in today.”

And yet, even Cutspec’s infectious confidence, outgoing presence and electric personality that pulsates with every word found doubts. She left the sport in 2017 because of that pesky meager paycheck. Cutspec decided it was time to turn her natural curiosity, love of writing and designing everything from websites to brochures loose in the corporate world. After spending nearly every waking moment on a softball field since she was 4, Cutspec felt a different tug, one that included picking up an MBA at Chapman University and starting up her own marketing company.

But after flexing her voice and talking to Camarco, who recruited her out of Ocean View, then brought her into the coaching ranks, could Cutspec reinvent herself again?

“To be honest, I was nervous. Being away from it for a lot of years — five or six years — the game’s the same. But it’s been a while,” she said. “I felt nervous that I’d been away from it for so long that maybe I wouldn’t be as effective as I could be if I stayed in it the whole time. But I trust Lisa so much. She wouldn’t have handed the program she built over to me if she didn’t believe in me. There’s a big confidence factor that she believed in my ability to continue the legacy she built.

“I think I feel more pressure to continue the culture she built and continue what she’s turned Santiago Canyon College softball into. Being an athlete and a coach, I have a strong understanding of it and know how important it is to help the girls who come through our program.”

Cutspec’s outgoing personality helped the transition. So did the journals she’s kept since she was 7. For as long as she can remember, Cutspec embraced writing, using a journal. It provided power, release and growth when she was trying to figure out who she was as a person. Not only did it help Cutspec make sense of the world around her and build her writing voice, but it provided another side gig.

Cutspec sells her Daily Journal templates to “give people an opportunity to be able to do that and to find the same pleasure and growth from it that I’ve had.” These templates are brought to you by Cutspec.

But her journals? They’re more than a sidelight. They’re a guiding light.

“To this day, I haven’t told very many people this, but when I would feel lost in the mix of things, if I felt lonely or I didn’t feel like I belonged, I would take my favorite TV show and write myself my own character, so I could make myself feel like I belonged somewhere,” she said. “I could create myself wherever I wanted to be and throw myself into my favorite TV shows and oh my God, I felt perfectly safe there. That would make other parts of my life feel better.”

Those parts are feeling better these days. Cutspec found the other side of the gate, the side that allows her to mentor young girls, provide them those oft-told life lessons and navigate some of the trickiest, most stressful times of their lives. Her voice has the same passion, the same caring intensity it had before she picked up — and put down — the PA microphone.

“I see myself doing this for the foreseeable future. Right now, I only coach here, but I would love to teach at the college and be a professor,” she said. “I definitely want to grow in my role. And I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”

And the subject of why the Cal State Fullerton softball team wasn’t the last team standing still stings Kelly Ford eight months later. So much so that the CSF softball coach spent as little time talking about what happened on a sunny May afternoon in Long Beach as she could – and as much time talking about what transpired from that weekend as she could.

“This group is hungry. That definitely slapped us down,” Ford said, concisely summarizing how the Titans lost the Big West title on the final weekend of the season.

Needing only one win in three games to win their second consecutive Big West title and sixth since 2016, the Titans got swept by Long Beach State, losing the title on the last day of the season and denying Ford her sixth title in 11 seasons. Ford’s astute and audacious scheduling – the Titans had one of the most demanding schedules in the country last year – earned CSF an at-large NCAA berth and a cross-country trip to Clemson for a four-team regional in South Carolina, where the Titans went 1-2.

This explains Ford’s succinctness in dismissing how one of her grittiest teams had a conference title snatched and grabbed away. Yes, the Titans were missing their two top-of-the-lineup igniters in Megan Delgadillo and Antonette Dean, who both tore ACLs within four days of each other midway through the season. Ford said losing Delgadillo changed the whole environment like few other athletes she’s ever coached.

And yet, even after the Titans lost two games to Auburn at the Clemson Regional, a quick zoom-out revealed all was not bleak. CSF went 34-21 with that tough schedule, beating No. 3 Florida and No. 8 Tennessee. Along the way, the Titans gave Ford her 800th career victory by knocking off Oregon State, earned 10 All-Big West accolades and still went 20-7 in conference play.

Now, the page turns, and Ford finds new ways to keep the Titans moving as she plots the path of snatching and grabbing that title back.

Enter new mental training and conditioning coach Zach Sorensen, who has the Titans thinking accountability. Taking over from Brian Kane, a Ford favorite who was a former acolyte of legendary mental guru and Cal State Fullerton Athletic Hall of Fame member Dr. Ken Ravizza, Sorensen won over Ford with an eight-word mantra that has her players’ attention.

“Zach is of that mindset of ‘What are you going to do about it?’ You throw something out about it, and he’s going to ask you that question,” Ford said. He puts thoughts and dreams into action. A lot of times, people put dreams out there. He will look you in the eye and ask you, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ Our accountability is at an all-time high.”

According to Ford, so is the Titans’ depth, not only on the field but in the dugout. A new NCAA rule opened the door for teams to have four full-time assistant coaches and – with the blessing of Athletic Director Jim Donovan – Ford wasted no time fortifying her staff. Joining longtime chief lieutenant Jorge Araujo was Jamee Juarez, a three-time All-Big Ten standout at Ohio State and Venezuelan National Team member, and one of the greatest players in CSF history – Gina Oaks Garcia.

Ford had been trying to lure Oaks Garcia from Claremont Mudd Scripps, where she coached the past six years. That mission finally accomplished, the Titans welcome back one of the most decorated players in program history – if not the most versatile.

A pitcher/infielder, Oaks Garcia still holds the program record for career runs scored (150) and ranks in the top 10 in total bases (314) and walks (74). She owns the single-game record for RBIs with her eight against Kansas in 2001. In the circle, she ranks in the top 10 in strikeouts (685), wins (74), complete games (72), shutouts (25) and saves (4).

She was a two-time All-American and four-time Big West Champion who became the first player in Big West history to earn first-team All-Conference honors at two different positions.

“I’ve gone after both for years, and they’ve brought a new standard, a new vibe and a lot of expectations,” Ford said. “They’re holding these ladies accountable, and I’ve given them a lot of freedom to bring in the gritty.”

Along with that grit and aura comes a team that is so deep that Ford said only one position is solidified: Delgadillo leading off and playing center. Two seasons ago, the Big West Field Player of the Year led the conference in hits (80), runs (57) and stolen bases (50), while slashing .404/.462/.444.

From there, matters are wide open. So wide open that senior Peyton Toto, a three-year starter at shortstop, may find another position. That’s courtesy of freshmen middle infielders Sarah Perez and Jazmin Williams and Biola transfer Colby McClinton, who was the PacWest Player and Freshman of the Year. Ford said that trio and outfielder Kate Verhoef had the upperclassman rhapsodizing about how good the freshmen are.

“There’s not an award she didn’t win at Biola, and she wanted to be challenged at the Division 1 level. That kid is super athletic,” Ford said about McClinton.

Not that the upperclassmen are slouches, starting with junior pitcher Haley Rainey, who inherits the ace mantle from the departed Myka Sutherlin after going 9-5 with a 1.53 ERA and earning All-Big West Second Team honors. Behind her are five other pitchers seeking to start the one weekend game Rainey won’t. The list starts with left-handed pitchers Staci Chambers and Leanna Garcia, both of whom redshirted last year.

After you get through Delgadillo, the Titans return Hannah Becerra, who led the Titans in runs (39), RBIs (28), doubles (8), home runs (8) and walks (32), which also led the Big West. Ford said that Becerra – a first-team All-Big West selection – was disappointed with her season last year, which bodes ill for opposing pitchers who will likely treat Becerra like she’s radioactive.

Also back for more are seniors Toto, catcher Jessi Alcala, outfielder Bailey Wallace, and pinch-hitter Kika Ramirez, who is expected to play a more prominent role this year.

“I keep thinking about what’s so special about this group right now. They’re not afraid to laugh and cry together,” Ford said. “They’re not afraid to face fear and lean in when things get tough and they’re showing a lot of the characteristics of a championship team. I’ve seen it in such a short time. We’ve been together 10 days and I’ve seen a transformation in 10 days unlike what I’ve seen before.

“In the fall, I thought we had talent. But this spring, there’s been a shift. It’s that ‘special sauce,’ that ‘mojo,’ that synergy. I call it ‘competitive greatness,’ when you’re competing with someone, you want to make each other better. If you’re both playing third base, I’m going to dive a little further, you’re going to dive a little further than me. They’re trying to make that position better for the team and they don’t care who will play it. They’re pushing each other and coaching each other, but more importantly, they’re giving and taking feedback from each other.”

We watched the softball team play its most brutal schedule in program history, then validate the challenge with its 31st postseason berth. We watched the men’s basketball team outkick its preseason prognostication once again, reaching the Big West Tournament final and winning 20 games for the second consecutive season.

We watched the men’s golf team introduce more talented players, illustrating an underrated depth as it showed any of them can rise up at any time and win a share of conference championships.

We said hello to freshman standouts like golfer Davina Xanh, men’s water polo player Francisco Paredes and basketball player Hope Hassman, and transfer newcomers like tennis player Zoe Olmos. We said hello to soccer forward Roberto Ordonez, who announced his incandescent presence by kicking in the door to the Titans’ regular-season men’s soccer title.

And we said goodbye to Fram and Julie Virjee, who made attending CSF athletic events a presidential mandate, baseball pitcher Fynn Chester and softball pitcher Myka Sutherlin, the Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year, and four Titan baseball players who were drafted by major league teams: Nate Nankil (Oakland Athletics, seventh round), reliever Jojo Ingrassia (Boston Red Sox, 14th round), catcher Cole Urman (Baltimore Orioles, 16th round) and outfielder/first baseman Caden Connor (Chicago White Sox, 19th round). The four draftees were more than any other Big West program.

Here, in no particular order, we look at some of 2023’s marquee athletic events.

Validation

On Page 9 of the 2022-23 CSF Annual Report, there is a story about the Titans’ baseball team featuring the headline, “Back Where It Belongs.”

Every alum with a passing interest in the Titans’ athletic program likely said those exact words at the end of the 2023 baseball season. For the first time since 2018, the Ferrari of the athletic department, the most recognizable program across the country, returned to the postseason. Its 1-2 record in the Stanford Regional did not detract from the fact Fullerton went 20-10 in the Big West and won nine consecutive series, taking the conference’s automatic NCAA berth despite finishing one game behind UC San Diego. The Tritons were ineligible for postseason play, due to their transitional status to Division 1.

In head coach Jason Dietrich’s second year, the Titans improved by 10 games overall (going 32-24) and six games in the Big West. The improvement came despite the Titans not finishing in the top three in any significant offensive category and in the top three in only strikeouts among the top pitching categories.

Two other former Titans made news on a bigger stage. In August, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen became the first Titan to throw a no-hitter in the major leagues when he scuttled the Washington Nationals, 7-0. It was the 14th no-hitter in club history, and it came in Lorenzen’s Phillies debut, after he was sent from Detroit to Philadelphia. That made him the fifth pitcher in major league history and only the second since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his home debut with a new team.

While Lorenzen reconfirmed his major-league bona fides, Tanner Bibee announced his. The former Titan pitcher made his major league debut with the Cleveland Guardians on April 26 and immediately found a home. He went 10-4 in 25 starts, posting a 2.98 ERA and 141 strikeouts and 45 walks in 142 innings. Bibee was one of only eight major league pitchers to record a sub-3.00 ERA pitching more than 100 innings, becoming a finalist for American League Rookie of the Year and earning a spot on the MLB All-Rookie Team.

Back in the pool

In 2022, the CSF women’s water polo team were debutantes. In the fall of 2023, the men joined them in the pool, where they returned to action for the first time since 1985. And by all accounts, it was a wildly successful return.

The Titans finished 16-16, a record that included two victories over Air Force and respectable showings against some of the best programs in the country. Playing in the Big West means you cope with a conga line of ranked teams. The Titans went 0-5 in conference play, which sounds a lot worse than it was, considering every one of those losses was to a ranked team: No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 7 UC Davis, No. 8 Long Beach State, No. 11 UC Santa Barbara and No. 12 UC San Diego.

Togan Ozbek earned All-Big West Honorable Mention accolades for his team-high 58 goals, placing him sixth in the Big West. He led the team in assists (41), the No. 3 mark in the Big West, and fell one point short of being the first CSUF player to post 100 points in a season. Paredes captured a spot on the All-Big West Freshman Team with 27 goals and a stellar .551 shooting percentage.

A class of firsts

There was a thread running through the inductees into the CSF Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

Be first.

There was the 1979 baseball team, the first Cal State Fullerton team to win the College World Series. There was Martha Wilkinson-Kirouac, who won CSF’s first women’s national championship when she captured the 1967 Division of Girls’ and Women’s Sports Golf Championship in Seattle. She was the first woman golfer inductee.

Wrestler T.J. Dillashaw and women’s soccer goalie Karen Bardsley joined Wilkinson-Kirouac as the first inductees in their respective sports. There was soccer forward Eddie Soto, who led the Titans to their first national semifinal in 1993. And there was Julie Max, a pioneer in athletic training.

The Class of 2023 was honored at a November reception in Brea.

Next man up is …?

CSF men’s golf coach Jason Drotter talked about the length and overall talent of Garrett Boe and the consistency of Harry Doig, both elements of which made them All-Big West First Team choices.

So who was the conference’s tri-champion at the Big West Tournament? Russell Howlett.

Howlett shot 73-70-68–211. His 5-under-par total at La Quinta Country Club tied Long Beach State’s Ian Gilligan and Cal Poly’s Baron Szeto for the individual title. It also paced the Titans to a second-place team finish, two shots behind Long Beach State.

How loud a debut did Ordonez make for the Titans’ men’s soccer team? He became the first Titan in program history to be named Big West Offensive Player of the Year. His nine goals were second in the conference, his 28 points and 10 assists led the conference, and those 10 assists were tied for eighth in the nation.

He and fellow All-Big West First Team selection Erick Serrano led a hardware parade that produced four Player of the Year honors, Coach of the Year honors for George Kuntz and eight all-conference selections – the most in program history. The Titans won five of six yearly honors – every one but Freshman of the Year – and the five First Team selections were a program record.

Serrano’s eight assists ranked second in the Big West – behind Ordonez. He was named the Big West Midfielder of the Year and joined Ordonez on the All-Far West Regional Team.

Center back Giovanni Calderon became the first Titan to win the Big West Defensive Player of the Year Award. Tetsuya Kadona became the first Titan to win Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, earning the award for his five clean sheets. Rounding out the first-team choices was Sulaiman Bah, who finished second on the team and fourth in the conference with his 18 points. Bah’s eight goals tied for third in the Big West.

The CSF women’s team had four players named to the All-Big West First Team, led by Women’s Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year Mia Ranson and Big West Freshman of the Year Kaylee Noble. Ranson led the Big West in save percentage (.838), tied for the conference lead in shutouts (seven) and second in goals-against-average (.952). Noble debuted with three goals and eight points, leading the team in shots on goal (17).

Sophomore midfielder Bella Cruz (three goals, 10 points) and sophomore defender Kaylin Raibon, who led the Titans in scoring with five goals and 11 points, rounded out the first-team selections. CSUF put four players on the first team for the first time since 2015.

No, it doesn’t sound so bad. Until you realize when Harada counted his options, he had fingers to spare.

Three of them, to be exact.

“There were games we had seven healthy players,” the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball coach said about the 2022-23 season. “We had issues last year. We lost all three of our point guards, and that was tough. It was one of those weird years.”

That Harada and the Titans were in for “one of those weird years” could have been foreshadowed in their Big West Conference opener against UC Santa Barbara. On the first play of the game, 6-foot forward Kathryn Neff went up to contest a shot, came down awkwardly without any contact — and tore her ACL. That deprived the Titans of a minutes-eating inside-outside threat who was 7-for-17 on her 3-pointers in the 10 games she played.

The crystal ball could have foreshadowed it during an October practice when graduate transfer Shyla Latone — whom Harada looked to for major point-guard minutes and scoring — tore her ACL. Latone was expected to replace Lily Wahinekapu, the reigning conference Freshman of the Year, who transferred to Hawaii.

No problem. Right? Harada had Anniken Frey, who didn’t play the 2021-22 season due to nerve damage. But during the 2020-21 season, Frey started all 22 games, averaging 9.2 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per game. Until he didn’t have Frey, who missed all but 12 games battling that recurring medical issue.

And we haven’t mentioned then-freshman Kaliana Salazar-Harrell, who tore her ACL in her last high school game — the Hawaii state title game — in the late winter of 2022. Harada said he’d thought Salazar-Harrell would return for conference play. Instead, she wasn’t ready, and Harada redshirted her.

“We had to make do with two other guards who had to play point guard,” Harada said, referring to Fujika Nimmo and Una Jovanovic. “They had to play 38 minutes a game and share point guard duties. We had no depth at that position.”

Nor does Harada have Jovanovic anymore. The second-team All-Big West selection transferred to TCU after leading the Big West in field-goal percentage (.425), finishing second in average minutes (37.9) and averaging 14.6 points and 3.8 assists.

You develop them, get them good, and they decide they want to leave,” Harada lamented.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Harada spent an offseason fixing leaks on the recruiting trail, starting — not surprisingly — at point guard. The 2023-24 Titans, who lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, are as deep as they’ve been since before the pandemic. Including Nimmo (more on her momentarily) and Salazar-Harrell, Harada has four point guards at his disposal and 14 players overall.

This is why Harada is the most optimistic he’s been since the pandemic wiped out what would have been his most talented team. Barring another conga line of players heading to the trainer’s room, Harada needs more than one hand to count his substitution options.

“This year, we have a good mix of players, a good balance of classes: seven upperclassmen and seven underclassmen. We have depth at every position, which is really important for us,” he said. “All we’re trying to do is stay healthy and keep a full roster through a whole season.”

If there was one positive Harada took from last year, it was Nimmo, who enjoyed a breakout year during her enforced stint sharing the point with Jovanovic. Now a senior, Nimmo averaged 14.5 points and 3.1 rebounds a game. She joined the 1,000-point club early in 2023 against UC Riverside, set career highs in points (26 against Santa Clara), 3-pointers (five against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), minutes (45 against UC Irvine) and free-throws (nine against San Jose State). A second-team All-Big West selection, Nimmo’s ability to create her own shot at all three levels and find teammates — she averaged 2.7 assists a game — just needs acclimation to a new group of players.

“Last year was a breakout year where it all came to fruition for her,” Harada said. “She was able to understand our offense and understand the league a little better than before. She was able to make plays and she knows how to score the basketball, she can create, and she can create for others. She came from Florida and is getting used to playing with a new system, a new team, a new conference and a new style of basketball — everything that comes with transitioning from across the country.”

Nimmo has some familiar players to play off. There’s Neff, 5-10 guard Gabi Vidmar and 6-1 post Ashlee Lewis. Vidmar led the Big West in minutes played (39.1), averaging 8.1 points and five rebounds a game while leading the Titans with 53 3-pointers on 35.3% shooting. Lewis averaged 10.3 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds a game — the No. 2 total in the Big West.

“Gabi is arguably one of our best shooters, but she excels on both ends of the floor,” Harada said. “She can knock down threes and she’s just so consistent defensively. She led us in steals last year and her ability to read things on defense is due to her great timing. She is someone who can make a difference on both ends.”

The next huge thing could be freshman Hope Hassmann. The 5-8 guard was a three-time conference MVP at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Wash. who passed up UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and Cal Poly, among other suitors. This meant Harada not only out-recruited three of his conference rivals, but in so doing, brought him a player who made the all-tournament team in her first college tournament — the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu. Hassmann averaged 19 points a game in the two games and six games into her college career, averages a team-best 13.8 points on 46.4% shooting.

“Her work ethic is off the charts. She wants to be good,” Harada said. “She’s super-competitive, does everything the right way, and when she makes mistakes, plays through them. She has this edge to her that sets her above the rest and her motor is nonstop. … I watched her play in summer club tournaments and when I watched her compete and play, she stood out. She literally willed her team to win. I said, ‘This is the player I need.’ ”

When it comes back to what the Titans need this year, Harada had the answer before the question was asked. The preseason coaches poll picked the Titans fifth, a two-spot jump from their seventh-place finish last year, and Harada understands better than most what can vault the Titans beyond that.

“No. 1 is staying healthy. That’s always No. 1,” he said. “Our depth is a huge bonus for us, but in order to take advantage of that, we have to stay healthy. The biggest key on top of that is that our players understand and accept their roles. When you have a lot of depth, it’s a blessing and a curse. Everyone wants to play, but you can only play five at a time and only so many players in 40 minutes. It’s important that our players play selflessly and understand they have to make sacrifices.”

It’s a problem Harada is happy to experience.

For that, you can thank two factors: his Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team has played in the last game of the Big West Tournament four of the past five years, and that, yet again, his fellow Big West coaches ignored this fact and did him another huge favor.

They picked the Titans to finish sixth in the preseason coaches’ poll.

“I love it. They’re so smart, they’re stupid,” he said, his voice rising in excitement with each letter. “You picked the program that has reached the finals of the Big West Conference Tournament four of the last five years sixth. … It’s par for the course, and I appreciate it. We’ll take it and keep on going. We’ll do what we do, and the rest of you can read about it when we’re still playing and you’re at home. It’s awesome.”

Speaking of “awesome,” Taylor has redefined what that word means in the big picture of Cal State Fullerton basketball. He enters his 11th season as the first coach in program history to put up back-to-back 20-win seasons and the only coach to take two CSF men’s teams to the NCAA Tournament, bringing the Titans to the 2018 and 2022 Big Dances. Along the way, the Titans lost in the finals of the 2019 and 2023 conference tournaments.

This, naturally, affects recruiting. Taylor attracted several players who enjoyed success at smaller programs. On the surface, there’s not a marquee ex-pat from the transfer portal coming in with the same impact E.J. Anosike brought to Fullerton two years ago. Then again, nobody at the outset of the 2021-22 season saw Anosike as the on-court game-changer he became.

“When you have success and experience success, you’re able to point back on why you’re able to have success,” Taylor said. “We’ve been able to have success the last five years and we can always revert back to that in recruiting. … We’re looking for not just talent, but guys who have high character. Guys who fit a certain type of character. The more we do it that way, the more our staff is able to identify those guys and go get them.

“When we get them, we reference quite a bit about our past, telling them, ‘This is why we won. This is why we lost. Now, how are you going to define your time here?’ ”

Definition is the key word here because there is what Taylor described as the theme of the 2023-24 Titans’ season. Can a team that saw its leading scorer – Latrell Wrightsell Jr. — take his 16.3 points, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game to Alabama, define the moment? Or will the moment define the Titans?

Wrightsell’s transfer hit Taylor like a 2-by-4 between the eyes, especially since the first-team All-Big West guard told Taylor two weeks earlier he was staying put. But Taylor refuses to let it define the Titans’ season going forward. He sees it as a defining moment in his program.

“Does it hurt? Yes, it hurts …,” Taylor said. “But my thought is that this is a trend moving forward, and let’s make the best of it.”

That’s Taylor, taking a page from his book and defining this moment in time. And when he’s not asking his players to define the moment, he’s asking them to do a simple thing. A simple thing relevant to their abilities and their skill sets, the success of which will define the Titans’ season.

“I’ve been on a rant for the last four weeks about doing your … job,” Taylor said, his voice again taking on an animated quality.

Taylor has created motivational signs with a big F and the CSUF logo that he says freshmen kind of get but seniors really understand.

“I love that. I appreciate that because our seniors have been here and understand what it means to do your … job.”

That starts with senior Tory San Antonio, who became only the second player in program history to be named Big West Defensive Player of the Year. In the conference tournament, San Antonio did his job so well that he nearly doubled his season scoring average, contributing a 14.3-point average in three games. Taylor said that sent San Antonio into this season with a confidence heretofore unseen in his CSF career.

It continues with senior guard Max Jones, who averaged 12.5 points per game last year, doing his job so well that he averaged 16.3 points over the last 11 games, providing a key offensive alternative to Wrightsell down the stretch. Those two will help define where the Titans are going this season.

“We’re not asking them to do anything other than what they’re capable of: but do their job and do it confidently,” Taylor said. “I think the growth with these two guys confidence-wise is they understand the tasks and they understand what their jobs are.”

Supplementing those two are returners John Mikey Square, Vincent Lee and Grayson Carper. Those three, whom Taylor called “the glue guys,” will play deeper, more involved roles than they did last year. Taylor said his expectations for those three are reasonable, given their skill sets and talent level. But their leash for making mistakes is shorter. Taylor and his staff have bought stock in that trio, and they now expect growth.

The rest of the Titans’ growth rests on how fast transfers Jalen Cooper, DJ Brewton, Zack Visentin and Beril Kabamba define their moments and adjust to doing their jobs in a new environment and with new demands.

The 6-foot-3 Brewton, who Taylor said “will dictate a lot of what happens to us as a team,” was an all-conference guard at Alcorn State, where he averaged 12 points per game. Cooper, a 6-6 forward, averaged 17.4 points and 8.7 rebounds at Palm Beach Atlantic. The 6-5 Kabamba averaged 28.6 points and 8.7 rebounds at Spring Hill College in Alabama. And the 6-9, 280-pound Visentin, who spent two seasons at Idaho State before transferring to Snow College last year, averaged 11.5 points and 6.6 rebounds for Snow.

How they adapt to the speed and rigors of Division I is important. But more important is how they adapt to, well, doing their new jobs.

“When they were at Division II, they were bigger, stronger and faster than everyone at that level,” Taylor said, largely referring to Cooper and Kabamba. “Now, what becomes their separator? I tell them to look to their right and look to their left and now everyone’s the same. Those physical things they possess are no longer attributes. Once they understand how to use their talent to become separators, they can be beneficial and productive to us going forward.”

Three freshmen: guard Antwan Robinson, 7-footer Kendrick De Luna and Keith Richard, who Taylor said is so athletic that he played in a state championship game on a Tuesday night, then went out and ran a 10.6-second 100-meter sprint on a partially fractured shin, will see time as well.

“We have the chance to be a really good ball club. Whether we do or don’t depends on how you are going to define the moment. Because those moments will happen,” Taylor said, sticking to his animated tone. “There are plenty of opportunities to define what those moments will look like. It’s up to you to define them.”

And when Soto turns back the clock, it’s not only the hands of the clock turning.

“I still jump in with guys and show them what I know. I think that’s important,” said Soto, the head coach of the CSUDH men’s soccer team. “They read about me and see that I was an All-American and say, ‘You’re not bad.’ Yeah, I’m not bad. I’m double their age.”

Yes, some things never change. Middle-aged Eddie Soto can still turn heads on a soccer field. The boy who once came home from seeing Argentinian icon Diego Maradona’s transcendent 1986 World Cup performance in Mexico City, threw away his baseball glove and became a soccer player so good he made the U.S Junior National Team two years later still turns heads with a ball at his feet.

The young man who tore up the Cal State Fullerton record book, scoring a still-record 18 goals in 1994 and leading the Titans to the national semifinals the year before still turns heads. He turned enough heads to earn induction into the Cal State Fullerton Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The former soccer forward will join soccer goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, wrestler T.J. Dillashaw, golfer Martha Wilkinson-Kirouac, former director of sports medicine Julie Max and the 1979 baseball team in this year’s class.

When Soto learned the news over the summer, for once, his head turned.

“I was shocked. We only have one soccer player in the Cal State Fullerton Hall of Fame and that’s Mike Fox. You look at the history of the program and the teams we’ve had and the players we’ve had and me being only the second player inducted is very humbling. I’m hoping it leads to more. I’m hoping it leads to some of our teams being inducted.”

Soto was quick to point out the team he thinks belongs — that 1993 Titans’ team that went 16-7-0, beat Oregon State, Cal, UCLA and Washington in the regular season and Fresno State, the University of San Diego and the University of San Francisco in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the national semifinals.

“We were a mid-major. Within three years, we were in the Final Four,” Soto said. “A lot of us played together, and we had so much success growing up, and it carried over into the Cal State Fullerton soccer program. We were all so successful playing together in club and all so driven. We looked forward to playing big teams, playing at Titan Stadium with our incredible fan base, the ‘Rag Patrol.’ (Head coach) Al Mistri was courageous enough to have us play ACC and Big Ten teams, and we would win. We were winning locally and on the national scene.

“It wasn’t just UCLA and USC as national powers on the West Coast. It was Cal State Fullerton as well.”

And Soto was a big reason why. In 1992, his first year with the Titans, Soto scored 12 goals, tied for eighth in the program’s single-season record book. During that 1993 season, he tallied eight. In 1994, Soto etched his name atop the program’s statistical pyramid, scoring 18 goals and adding five assists as the Titans reached the NCAA quarterfinals. The 18 goals remain a single-season record and the 41 points is third on the all-time single-season points ladder.

In his three years at CSUF, Soto scored 38 goals (tied for second), added 20 assists (tied for third) and finished with 98 career points (third). He was a second-team All-American in 1992 and honorable mention in 1993. Meanwhile, the Titans were 42-20-2 during Soto’s career.

This turned the heads of the fledgling New York Metro Stars of the new Major League Soccer, which drafted Soto in the eighth round of the inaugural MLS Player Draft. But the week he was supposed to play the L.A. Galaxy in the Rose Bowl for his first MLS game, the team released him.

“I was devastated. Confused. I was a young kid who didn’t understand what was happening,” he said. “It was odd the way things were run back then, but just like everything in life, you need luck and being in the right place at the right time, and I just didn’t have either. I had a really hard time with it because it was the first time where I wasn’t good enough.”

Soto redoubled his workouts. In 1998, he was drafted in the second round of the MLS Supplemental Draft by the San Jose Clash, but again, released in the preseason. As he saw it, Soto was a victim of a geographic bias in both places: he wasn’t from the New York/East Coast region with the Metro Stars and wasn’t a Northern California product with the Clash.

Soto eventually found a home with the United Soccer League A-League Orange County Zodiac, where he led the league in goals during his five-year stint in the A-League. By 2000, Soto had enough of the A-League grind. He retired.

He didn’t stay away from the field long. When he was playing at CSUF, he was approached to coach a club team in Brea. Soto jumped at the chance, leading an Under-15 team to its league title. For his efforts, he got fired.

“It was the first coaching job I ever had, and I got fired. But I was hooked,” he said. “I love helping. I love giving back. You get these kids who aspire to reach the level I did. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.”

Hooked enough that after he retired, Soto was working at DreamWorks as an IT recruiter. He got another blessing disguised as a phone call when Mistri called him to offer him an assistant job at CSUF.

“I had to think. Do I want to continue on this path, or do I want to jump into coaching full-time?” Soto said, pondering the pay cut he took. “I made the right choice because I’ve never worked a day in my life.”

Soto spent 2½ years as a Titans’ assistant. He spent two years as an assistant to the Long Beach State women’s team, before returning to CSUF under new coach Bob Ammann in 2006. Soto spent one year at his alma mater before UCLA brought him over for an eventual eight-year stint as an assistant.

All the while, Soto coached the L.A. Galaxy’s U-18 Academy Team. On the urging of former UCLA and Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid, who served as one of his mentors, Soto also coached the U.S. National Beach Soccer team for 12 years. He took the team to two FIFA World Cups and won a CONCACAF Region title. He was turning heads with a ball on his players’ feet.

In 2014, that led to his first head coaching job — at USF, where he won 40 games in five seasons. The 2017 Dons won the West Coast Conference for the first time in nine years and Soto was the WCC Coach of the Year. But Soto’s family was living in Southern California, while he was coaching 400 miles north because he didn’t want to uproot his family.

“I lost four years of my youngest’s soccer career because I wasn’t around. We were successful at USF. We had a high graduation rate, developed players, and had a great program,” Soto said. “But my family wasn’t with me. I knew I needed to be home.”

Soto took the Dominguez Hills job in 2019. He’s satisfied turning heads at the Division II level, where he and his staff were named United Soccer Coaches Division II West Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2022.

“The amount of passion and compassion I have for these young men; I know how much they love the game, and I know how much I love teaching the game,” Soto said. “I’ve always enjoyed creating an environment where they enjoy coming to practice every day. That’s what I remembered about why I loved the game. That’s the culture I’ve created everywhere I’ve gone, and the kids really love that.”

That seemingly oxymoronic combination put T.J. Dillashaw into a wrestling singlet. It made him a high school state runner-up, brought him a college scholarship he never conceived and made him a three-time NCAA qualifier.

The love of fear. It put Dillashaw in the UFC steel cage, brought him wealth, accolades and world titles incomprehensible to someone who grew up in a small Northern California town of 3,500, made him one of the poster boys for an entire sport and even caused UFC commentator Joe Rogan to gush in front of an international audience that Dillashaw put in “the most spectacular performance I have ever seen. …”

The love of fear. It also turned both of Dillashaw’s shoulders into hamburger, sent him to the surgeon’s table 11 times, caused him to make a decision he called “the biggest mistake of my career” and forced him out of the sport he loved before his time.

The love of fear. Eventually, it brought Dillashaw full circle, right into the Cal State Fullerton Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The former Titans’ wrestler will join soccer goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, soccer forward Eddie Soto, golfer Martha Wilkinson-Kirouac, former director of sports medicine Julie Max and the 1979 Baseball Team in this year’s class.

“I was surprised. I didn’t expect a call, I didn’t expect to be inducted because I didn’t have the type of career that I should have had when I was there,” he said. “I didn’t become an All-American. I didn’t become a national champion. I did good there, but I didn’t do great. Those expectations were something I try to hold myself to.”

This gives you a front-row seat to Dillashaw’s brutal level of self-awareness. You’ll find very few people, never mind professional athletes, honestly owning themselves like Dillashaw does. He is so honest, so open about his triumphs, mistakes, and yes, fear, that he thanked the interviewer “for the therapy session.” One that lasted an hour and 42 minutes.

That, too, comes with that love of fear that Dillashaw used as a motivational tool from the moment he first walked onto a wrestling mat. He was 8, following his wrestling coach father to his club practices. When he stepped onto the mat even at that age, Dillashaw realized several things before long. He realized he was pretty good, that the competition fed and nourished him like few other things in life, and that his talent brought a side order of self-worth.

And yes, as he got older, Dillashaw realized something else.

“I grew up in a competitive family. When you’re out there on that mat, it’s all on you. It makes you feel alive,” he said. “It’s fear, to be honest. You’re so scared of not doing it to your fullest potential that it makes you feel alive. To be successful in any individual sport, wrestling, MMA fighting, you have to love the fear.”

It also gave Dillashaw victories. He was all-state as a junior and a senior, losing in the state finals at 119 pounds his senior year. Still, Dillashaw didn’t plan on going to college until he went to the Dream Team Duals in Clovis. That tournament pits the country’s best wrestlers against the top wrestlers from a given state. Each year, that state rotates. It happened to land on California Dillashaw’s senior year.

Aside from that love of fear, Dillashaw’s career has featured several fortunate moments. This was one of them. At the duals, he beat Charlie Falk, the nation’s top wrestler and a future All-American at Iowa.

As Dillashaw said, that started the college offers. Fresno State, Columbia, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo all chimed in. But when Dillashaw visited Fullerton, it was game over. He liked the area, liked coach Dan Hicks, liked the brotherhood formed with his teammates — all of it.

“I became the man I am today because of Cal State Fullerton. I’m pleased and grateful for everything I learned there and because of my experiences there,” he said.

Dillashaw went 14-16 (10-8 in dual meets) as a freshman and 17-14 (11-4 in duals) as a sophomore. He qualified three times for the NCAAs, turning in, by all accounts, a distinguished career.

It was only the beginning.

Dillashaw enrolled in graduate school with the idea of being a physician’s assistant. Instead, he met MMA standout Urijah Faber while working for then-CSUF assistant wrestling coach Mark Munoz at a wrestling camp.

Munoz wasted little time planting the seed of Dillashaw’s next career.

‘“You know what, T.J.? You’d be a great fighter. I think fighting would be a great outlet for you,’” Dillashaw said Munoz told him.

After talking to his then-girlfriend, now wife, Rebecca, Dillashaw moved to Sacramento, renting a room from Faber and training at Faber’s gym.

“I gave myself a year. If I was good at it, I’d stick with it. Otherwise, I’d go back to school,” he said. “It was that love of fear again. I was scared. I’m going to go into this gym and I’ve never thrown a punch in my life. I’ve never kicked or punched, and I’m going into this gym with world-class athletes. There were two guys: Faber and Joseph Benavidez, who were ranked No. 2 and 3 in the world in my weight class. There were a ton of great fighters, and I had to throw myself to the wolves and learn this sport as fast as I could.

“I remember my first day of practice boxing, sparring. I’ve got to go against Joseph, the No. 3 guy in the world, and I’m bleeding out of my nose and getting beat up. They used to call me ‘Lieutenant Dan’ from Forrest Gump, because of the part where he’s yelling at the storm to ‘come and get him.’ That was me in my first sparring match.”

Dillashaw was a natural. Within a year, he was on the Ultimate Fighter TV show, where he finished second. That earned him a UFC contract right after that group bought WEC, home of the lighter-weight classes. That fortuitous break led to another one: a revelatory chat with cornerman Justin Buckels before a fight with Mike Easton in January 2014 about turning his love of fear into something else.

“I was my nervous self warming up. My cornerman said, ‘Hey man. Enjoy the moment. You’re in the UFC right now. There’s millions of people watching TV right now, watching you walk out, who would pay to be in your position right now.’ That resonated with me,” Dillashaw said. “I had a lot of fun that night. It was different than other fights. I saw Shaquille O’Neal in the front row. … I was into having fun instead of being aggro. I picked up the guy and said, ‘This is for you, Shaq,’ and body-slammed the guy.

“When I decided to relax and have fun, everything happened great. I learned to be a better athlete.”

The breaks kept coming. In May 2014, Dillashaw was supposed to face Takeya Mizugaki. But when Matt Whiteman — who was on the main event — broke his rib, Dillashaw was given the opportunity to fight Renan Barāo for the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Barāo was one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world and the reigning Bantamweight champion.

Dillashaw? He was an unknown 8-1 underdog who — all of a sudden — found his face on marquees and billboards all over Las Vegas. He was a media darling, doing interview after interview and soaking up the moment.

It worked. Dillashaw loved the moment instead of the fear. Barely 40 seconds in, Dillashaw landed an overhand right that dropped Barāo. Everything clicked, up to the point in the fifth round where Dillashaw flattened Barāo with a combo of kicks and an overhand left. Just like that, the fifth-round TKO made Dillashaw the UFC Bantamweight Champion.

“It was crazy. The seconds after the fight, I blacked out. People were screaming and I was telling everyone it was my destiny to beat this guy,” he said.

Dillashaw defended his title three times. He owns the second-highest number of title bouts (seven) in UFC Bantamweight history. His seven knockouts are the most in division history, and he’s recognized as one of the greatest bantamweights in UFC history.

And yet, there’s the what-ifs. In 2019, Dillashaw was suspended for two years in his prime after testing positive for a banned substance, what he called “the worst mistake of his career.” He won his comeback fight over Cory Sandhagen in May 2021.

But the injuries finally caught up to him. A knee injury and shoulder surgery that didn’t take followed him into a title bout against Aljamain Sterling in October 2022. Going into the fight, Dillashaw’s left shoulder kept popping out, but he was 36 years old and didn’t know how many chances he’d get.

This was the last one. Dillashaw’s body answered that question for him.

“Pulling out wasn’t an option. I thought I could take him,” Dillashaw said. “Then, it popped out 30 seconds into the first round. I got it back in before the doctors came. Thirty seconds into the second round, it popped out again. I knew it would happen. In the world I live in, wrestling and fighting, you have to be super optimistic. You overwhelm negative thoughts with positive. But I should have been more realistic. I had one arm. I did a lot of damage to my shoulder I’m paying for now.”

Again, there’s his self-awareness, which now serves Dillashaw well in retirement. He’s finally at peace with his reluctant retirement, the byproduct of his suspension. Instead, his love of fear was replaced with a love of entrepreneurship. He and a partner started Wild Society, a protein health-food company that allows Dillashaw’s restless, competitive nature to flourish in literally a natural environment.

“This refocused me. The same way I fell into the identity of being a wrestler, fell into an identity of being a fighter. I have to find a new worth. I can’t stop. If I stop, I’m going to lose it.”

Kuntz is aware that certain victories, even certain victories in the early stages of what could be the best season in his nine years coaching the Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer team, are more equal than others.

Beating Mercer, 6-1? Nice. Taking down Air Force, 2-1? Again, nice. Tying a ranked Washington team, 1-1, in Seattle? Well, yes, that’s nice too – but hardly transcendent or attention-grabbing.

But taking down UCLA – yes, that UCLA – 4-1?

To quote Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie in “Django Unchained” on behalf of the greater collegiate soccer world, “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. …”

“That was a statement win. I can tell you that UCLA is just another team, but to these guys and to the public, it was something different. It was more than that,” Kuntz said. “You can beat almost anyone and there’s not a blip or a word about it. But when we beat UCLA, I was getting texts and getting attention from all over the world. Everyone was texting me, and everyone was aware of it, and it was a huge spike in the awareness of our program.

“I told them that until you beat teams like this, you’re not relevant. You have to be able to knock down those teams and compete with them straight up. And we did that.”

These Titans are indeed relevant. They are more than a curiosity, and yes, they have the attention of the West Coast collegiate soccer world through an 8-2-2 start. That start not only includes victories over UCLA and Air Force and that gutsy tie with a 25th-ranked Washington team but wins over Loyola Marymount (1-0) and conference foes Cal State Northridge (5-4) and UC Davis (1-0).

The LMU victory came on the road against a previously undefeated Lions team. Beating CSUN also came on the road, via an offensive free-for-all that involved the Titans coming back from a 4-3 deficit via goals from Roberto Ordonez in the 77th  minute and Erick Serrano’s 88th-minute, right-place, right-time game-winner. Ordonez’s shot was parried by CSUN goalkeeper Cooper Wenzel right to Serrano, who buried the rebound.

This would be a good time to explain one huge reason why this Titans’ hot start differs from last year’s hot start, when Fullerton opened the season 5-2-2. The Titans couldn’t sustain that start, going 0-2-2 in their last four and finishing a disappointing 3-3-3 in the Big West Conference. Lack of goal-scoring played a huge part; the Titans failed to find the net in four of their last six games and scored only once in the other two. That came via a wave of injuries to most of Fullerton’s offensive talent.

And as the injuries piled up and the goals dried up, all Kuntz could do was wistfully look at the wispy figure standing near him in street clothes every game – Ordonez.

A transfer from West Texas College, Ordonez was a gem that Kuntz knew he was lucky to find. Assistant coach Irving Garcia unearthed this gem after watching him at a national community college tournament, and then Kuntz worked his recruiting magic getting Ordonez to Fullerton.

All good – until Ordonez somehow injured his back during the 2022 preseason. Test after test turned up nothing, and Kuntz said he was so frustrated the training and medical staff couldn’t find the source of Ordonez’s pain. Kuntz said they believed it was a pinched nerve, and an offseason of strength and core training helped get Ordonez back on the field. But nobody to this day knows what kept Ordonez picking up cones instead of picking up goals.

“He couldn’t play last year, which really hurt us last year,” Kuntz said. “We had a decent team, but we didn’t have Roberto. Everyone would ask me, ‘What happened to that guy you got from West Texas?’ I’d say, ‘He’s over there, picking up cones like a coach.’

“In the spring, he showed flashes of how good he could be. We knew he was excellent on set pieces: corners, free-kicks, dead balls. But his touch, his ability to hold the ball, his ability to possess the ball were things over and above anything that we thought he could do.”

Now, Ordonez is making up for lost time with a vengeance. That 77th-minute goal against Northridge gave him a hat trick. His assist on Serrano’s game-winner gave him two assists – and eight points that night.

Scoring the lone goal in that 1-0 victory over UC Davis gave Ordonez nine goals this season. That and his 25 points lead the Big West.

They also lead the nation.

“I don’t think he’s hit his ceiling yet,” Kuntz said. “I think he has more ability than he thinks he has. He wants to get better. I’ve had a lot of guys go to MLS and I think he has better feet than a lot of those guys who went to MLS. I’ve had a lot, and he would be up there with the best, if not better.”

The good news for Kuntz and the Titans is that Ordonez has regular and frequent company on the scoresheet. Ordonez is one of five Titans with multiple goals, with Sulaiman Bah (four), Mario Carlos (three), Serrano (two) and Marci Killeen (two). Five others have one.

Bah, a junior forward from Sierra Leone who claimed the California Collegiate Athletic Association record for points in a season when he played at Cal State Dominguez Hills, tallied in three consecutive games and scored the opener in a 2-0 victory over University of San Diego. Serrano – a junior midfielder and another product of the Coachella Valley pipeline opened by assistant coach and area native Enrique Cardenas – scored five points (three assists and a goal) last year.

“He’s a tremendous workhorse who is coming into his own,” Kuntz said. “It’s like ‘Who’s that guy?’ He’s been with us two years, but playing in the shadow of (former Titan star) Sebastian Cruz. Now, he’s emerged into his own person.”

Along with that depth, Kuntz learned something about last season’s fadeout. He realized he needed to manage his players’ bodies better. That meant better understanding of when to work them hard physically and when to back off and do more tactical and technical work. Heart monitors and distance monitors chart the work rate, and the distance players run every practice and game. Kuntz and his staff turn that information into better player management.

“We ran out of gas during league season last year. That’s probably the biggest thing,” he said. “Again, also having talent. We have more talent than last year. I have the ability to put in a guy where there’s no drop-off. When you have guys who can run at people just like the athlete who left the field, it makes a huge difference. There’s no letdown at all.”

How much of a difference? Kuntz coached three Big West Tournament winners and a conference regular season champion. He’s taken three Titans’ teams to the NCAA Tournament and between Fullerton and his previous stop at UC Irvine, entered the season with 123 victories in 10 years – the most of any coach in that time period.

And this Titans team has already made an impact.

“I told our team this. When you’re talking about Fullerton, this is one of the best groups we’ve had,” Kuntz said. “Overall, I think it’s the best group we’ve ever had collectively. We’ve had some good teams, but this one has good balance. There’s depth at every position and that leads to consistency.”

Known as Martha Wilkinson then, she was a freshman at California State College, Fullerton, as the school was known then. She wandered the halls looking for someone — anyone — in a position of authority who would give their blessings for her to compete in what was then called the Division of Girls’ and Women’s Sports Golf Championships.

She received that blessing, then threw a curse on the rest of the field at what passed for a national collegiate championship in the precursor to the AIAW — which was the precursor to the NCAA. All of which was a precursor to Title IX, and a golf team at Cal State Fullerton. Wilkinson didn’t have to ask for permission to do what happened next — win Cal State Fullerton’s first women’s national championship in any event.

Wilkinson-Kirouac is one of five individual inductees and six members overall who comprise the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023, which was selected over the summer. The class will be honored at a Nov 3 dinner in Brea.

Wilkinson-Kirouac joins the Cal State Fullerton 1979 baseball team, soccer goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, wrestler T.J. Dillashaw, trainer Julie Max, and soccer standout Eddie Soto in the 10th class of inductees.

Here are capsules on each of the inductees.

The 1979 Baseball Team

This was the team that put Cal State Fullerton’s baseball program on the collegiate map for good. The team that illustrated the managerial genius of Augie Garrido, the promising future of a first baseman named Tim Wallach and the scrappy, nothing-is-over-until-WE-say-it-is personality of the Titans’ baseball program.

This wasn’t CSUF’s first trip to Omaha and the College World Series; it went in 1975. But this is where the Titans’ baseball program became Cal State Fullerton baseball. The program’s first of four national championships over the next four decades. Behind Wallach’s .391 average, 23 home runs and a still-school record 102 RBI, the Titans went 60-14-1, including 23-4-1 in what was called the Southern California Baseball Association, the conference they played in at that time.

In the West Regional, the Titans lost their first game, then ripped apart the losers’ bracket, beating UCLA twice. In Omaha, they promptly lost their opener, 6-1, to Mississippi State — the last time CSUF would lose that season.

Behind a pitching staff that came into the CWS 45-8 and clutch closer Tony Hudson — who would be the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series for his three saves — the Titans reeled off four consecutive victories: 8-3 over Connecticut, 16-3 over Arizona, 13-10 over Arkansas and 8-5 over Pepperdine to reach the final game against Arkansas. With that final tied 1-1 entering the sixth, outfielder Sam Favata — who came into Omaha hitting .432 — reached first on an error, stole second and went to third on a throwing error. He’d come home on Wallach’s sacrifice fly — his 102nd RBI of the season.

Just like that, the Titans elbowed their way into the collegiate baseball elite. Wallach won the Golden Spikes Award — baseball’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He’d be the 10th pick in the Major League Baseball draft, play 17 seasons in the majors and make five All-Star teams. And Garrido’s ability to push every motivational and tactical button at the right time would go on display for the next four decades.

Karen Bardsley

Bardsley was a graphic design major — an appropriate major for a goalkeeper who designed one of the best careers by a Cal State Fullerton soccer player in school history. She opened her career as the Big West Freshman of the Year in 2002, stopping 84.6% of the shots she faced.

After breaking her leg 28 minutes into the 2003 season, Bardsley returned to the net in 2004 and was named Big West Conference Goalkeeper of the Year — the first of three times she’d capture that award. That season, Bardsley allowed 0.71 goals per game.

In 2005, she set single-season program records for goals-against (a Big West-leading 0.64), victories and shutouts (10). The following year, she’d win her third Big West Goalkeeper of the Year Award, go 12-8-2 — with eight shutouts. Her 128 saves ranked second in school history.

Carrying dual citizenship, Bardsley earned 82 caps for England, competing in three Women’s World Cups and the 2012 London Olympics. She played for Manchester City before retiring in May 2022.

T.J. Dillashaw

He’s known far more for his two UFC bantamweight titles and a 17-5 MMA/13-5 UFC record. But back in the day when CSUF had a wrestling team, Dillashaw was the program’s poster boy who helped give the program needed gravitas at a time when it was struggling. After a freshman season where Dillashaw went 14-16 with a 10-8 dual-match record, he went to Ukraine in the summer of 2006.

Something clicked. Dillashaw went 17-14 and 11-4 in duals, going 5-3 in the Pac-10. The following year, he finished sixth in the University Greco Wrestling Championships. He was a three-time NCAA Division I National Qualifier and finished fourth in the Pac-10 in both his junior and senior years.

After graduating, Dillashaw accepted an invitation from former CSUF wrestling coach Mark Muñoz to join the Reign Training Center. That started his MMA career that ended just last year when Dillashaw injured his shoulder in a bout with champion Aljamain Sterling.

Julie Max

She was the first female student trainer allowed to work football games at Fullerton College, the first female president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and is the first trainer inducted into the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Hall of Fame.

None of which surprises anyone who knows Max, CSUF’s former director of sports medicine and assistant athletics director. From 1979 until her 2022 retirement, Max oversaw the Titans’ training staff and sports medicine department, mentoring two generations of student and athletic trainers and bestowing on them the knowledge to not only think on their feet and stay ahead of the athletic training curve but serving as a role model and training talisman. When students, athletes and colleagues speak about Max, they do so using words like “integrity,” “respect,” “professional,” and “smart.”

Max is a woman of firsts, but the CSUF Athletic Hall of Fame is her second hall induction. Max was inducted into the NATA’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

Eddie Soto

To anyone who watched him play during his three-year career, it should surprise no one that Soto became a successful soccer coach. After all, Soto played the game like a chess master, always seeing the game several moves ahead.

A two-time All-American (1992-93), Soto ranks as the No. 2 scorer in CSUF history. He scored 96 points and 38 goals, including a still-school-record 18 in 1994. In 1993, he led the Titans to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in school history and brought them back to the quarterfinals the next year.

For the last five seasons, Soto has coached the Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s team, the latest stop in a 20-year coaching career — 17 at the Division I level. He led the Toros to their first 10-win season in 2021, reaching the conference semifinals in a season they were ranked as high as 13th nationally. Last year, they won the conference regular season title.

Previously, Soto coached the men’s team at the University of San Francisco, where he was the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2017.

Martha Wilkinson-Kirouac

When Wilkinson romped through the 32-player match-play bracket at Seattle’s Sand Point Country Club, she did so as the lone Titan in the field. After beating Roberta Albers of the University of Miami, 6-and-5 in the 36-hole final, she not only won CSUF’s first women’s national title in any sport, she did so four years before there was an AIAW championship, five years before Title IX, 15 years before there was an NCAA women’s golf championships and 42 years before there was a women’s golf team at CSUF.

It was her only year at the school; her talents were far beyond what CSUF offered at the time. Wilkinson illustrated this three years later with one of the greatest amateur campaigns in golf history. She won five prestigious amateur titles, including the biggest one of all — the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She played on — and 34 years later, coached — the U.S. Curtis Cup team, the pinnacle team event for women amateurs.

One of the most respected figures in amateur golf and a rules official for eight U.S. Women’s Opens and eight Women’s Amateurs, Wilkinson-Kirouac lives in Georgia, where she is a member of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

“What was Cal State Fullerton 10, Pomona-Pitzer 8?” And with that, you know the question to the answer: “This represents Cal State Fullerton’s first men’s water polo victory in nearly 30 years.”

And while Kyle Witt knew the Titans would eventually break through — even with an opening weekend schedule featuring the likes of top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Cal, No. 3 UCLA and No. 20 Navy — he lost exactly zero sleep and exerted exactly zero beads of sweat pondering when that would happen.

It would happen. And, more importantly, it would happen on Witt’s terms.

This is what keeps Witt traipsing merrily along on his endless conga line of chaos building the Titans’ men’s and women’s water polo teams from scratch. He did it in the spring with the women’s team, creating a team out of thin air that went a respectable 11-20.

And now, it’s the men’s turn. Witt spent more than a year recruiting the 21 players making up this year’s first Titans’ team since 1985. He scoured the state’s community college rosters, using the entire state as his base. That meant going north to find players at West Valley College in Saratoga and Modesto Junior College, then going south, where Witt uncovered players from Riverside City College, Saddleback College, Golden West College, Mt. San Antonio College and Rio Hondo College, among others.

Of the Titans’ initial 21 players, 16 came from the JC ranks. This is intentional on several fronts that, on the surface, gives Witt those pesky unintended consequences regarding Orange County’s reputation as a water polo mecca. While it’s true that Division I water polo players grow on OC palm trees, it’s also true that their expectations — or, more accurately, their parents’ expectations — grow on trees the height of redwoods.

“The reality of today’s boys high school water polo players is that most of them here are at private schools, where their parents pay a lot of money to send them to those schools,” Witt said. “The biggest problem is their parents have no problem paying to send them to a Loyola Marymount instead of a Cal State Fullerton. The parents look down on the Cal States. Long Beach State, which is nationally ranked, can’t even get these kids.

“That’s why you have to recruit far and wide to find diamonds in the rough. We think we’ve found that in our five high school kids.”

The corollary to that means Witt also knew hitting the JC schools hard would uncover diamonds of a different brilliance. He knew JC players would immediately take to a fledgling program that — above all—would give them something more established programs never would.

A chance.

“You can look all these players in the eye and tell them this is a unique situation, that we will have successes and failures in your time here, but you will have successes nobody else will believe,” he said. “They wanted someone to look them in the eye and tell them the truth. Those are the leaders I want, and that’s the type of program we will have. They want a chance, and they don’t want the BS they’ve dealt with before.

“The overriding theme is these guys wanted a chance and they got lost a little bit, whether it was from COVID or them getting lost themselves or coaches not believing they can help their programs. When JC players are recruited, coaches string them along. Once a high school player commits, they drop the JC guy. It’s a long wait for these guys, and it’s not a fun process.”

This is where Witt’s conga line plays a wonderful tune that is music to their ears. He told JC standouts like West Valley’s Togan Ozbek, Golden West’s Nico D’Angelo and Mt. San Antonio College’s Zach Ewing — who combined for seven of the 10 goals scored against Pomona-Pitzer — they would have an immediate role building something special. Witt’s zero-BS approach and deep knowledge of JC players, one learned at the pool deck of longtime Loyola Marymount coach and mentor John Loughran, made that always-important recruiting element easier.

There was another byproduct of that. When you recruit players like D’Angelo, who Witt said will make a great coach one day due to his water polo IQ and ability to play 3D chess seeing the entire pool, and Ozbek, who will be the Titans’ primary sniper due to his ability to get open and find shooting lanes, you get more than buying the water polo version of Amazon stock at $7.

You get players who immediately buy into what you’re selling because you believe in their ability to grow, learn and improve as players and people. They understand your first lesson that you don’t have to take 100 shots a game to be successful. They learn that you can make the extra pass and you don’t have to make the eye-catching, how-did-he-do-that move every time you touch the ball.

And they learn Witt is playing the long game with them. Not just in the pool, with his defensive-minded, relentless counterattacking style that Witt said will eventually make the Titans impose their will on their opponents.

All well and good. But Witt’s long game goes beyond the pool. Way beyond the pool. And by “long game,” he means longer than any of these players comprehend at this point in their careers. These players may have only met each other on Aug. 5, when practices began. Some arrived even later than that, which is what makes going 1-3 in last weekend’s opening tournament at the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego even more impressive in the big picture.

Not that Witt cares about outcomes right now. The long game is more than trivia — or trivial.

“We tried to make sure we were bringing in the right people. That’s all that matters the first year,” Witt said. “I don’t think anyone will look back 20 years from now and say, ‘You only won five games, or what have you.’ It will be, ‘You guys helped build something, and upon your shoulders stands the success of the Cal State Fullerton water polo program.’ That takes broad shoulders and we think we have those broad shoulders on this team.

“We won’t have any all-conference players, but we have good players. We have talent, we’re good, but compared to our Big West opponents who are nationally ranked, we’re behind. And that’s OK.”

The long game means you take small victories where and when you find them. Because small victories eventually morph into bigger ones.

“The other day, we found a microwave and put it in my office,” Witt said, in a proud, unironic, matter-of-fact voice. “If you visited my office, you’d see boxes not unpacked from when I came here from LMU. My to-do list is 100 things long. But you can look at it and freak out, or you can accept the fact that I got things done today and I’m excited to get back.

“This is why I wanted this job. We just have to keep building this thing.”